Wolfgang Tillmans

Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo

In the earliest period of his career, Wolfgang Tillmans experimented with enlarging and distorting his own photographs with a photocopier, delighted by the inherent possibilities of chance involved. He made subsequent cameraless works by folding photographic paper in various ways (both before and after processing), running paper through a dirty processing machine, or applying chemicals to the paper. In the series Mental Images, Tillmans created vibrant images by placing colored string lights on the light-sensitive photographic paper; here, the twisted wire and vividly glowing bulbs are clearly visible in several areas.  

Although the human brain naturally struggles to find reason and narrative within an abstract image, Tillmans’s intention is simply that color and shape be implemented as a mode of expression, devoid of agenda. Tillmans rejects hierarchy or attempts to rate one form or period of his work over another. In this sense, the title of his 2003 Tate Britain retrospective – If One Thing Matters, Everything Matters – seems particularly apt.

For Tillmans, the content of the image – the visual information – as well as the actual physical presence of the object itself are of equal importance. In this sense, the expressions of light on paper (luminograms) or the silhouette of articles placed over paper (photograms) become not just photographs but sculptural objects as well.